Reginald
VelJohnson played the role of the understanding
Sgt. Al Powell opposite Bruce Willis in "Die
Hard." But he is most known as Paul Hogan's
chauffeur, Gus, in "Crocodile Dundee."
His other film credits include "Remo
Williams," "Wolfen," "Ghostbusters"
and "Turner and Hooch." He also starred
in "Die Hard II" and "Posse."

Some
of his television credits include "Deadly
Pursuits," "Grass Roots," "The
Bride in Black," "Quiet Victory: The
Charlie Wedemeyer Story," "Doing Life"
and "When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate."
Plus, guest appearances on "The Equalizer,"
"227," Tales From the Crypt,"
"Dream On" and "The Electric
Company."

On Broadway,
VelJohnson appeared in "Honky Tonk Nights"
and "But Never Jam Today,"plus many off
Broadway productions.

He was born in
Queens, NY, on Aug. 16.

Reginald
VelJohnson

CARL WINSLOW How's this for a
shocking confession? Reginald VelJohnson--who for nearly
a decade portrayed one of America's cuddliest television
dads--isn't always so crazy about having children around.
"When my friends bring their kids over, I have fun
playing with them for a while," says the unmarried
actor. "But then they start getting into my stuff,
and I say, 'They're cute. You can go home now.'" If
only he could get rid of insensitive fans so easily.
"I had just gotten back from my mother's funeral,
and I was in the supermarket, and a woman said, 'Carl,
you're not smiling,'" he recalls. "I said,
'Well, you can't smile every day,' and she answered, 'Oh,
come on! You can smile for me!'" Experiences like
that make VelJohnson, 47, eager to shed his "funny,
nice guy" image, which he honed as the Twinkie-loving
cop in the first two Die Hard movies before landing
his Family Matters gig. "I think it would be cool to
play a murderer," he says. "Bad guys have more
character." His former television costars would
probably disagree. "Of all the people I've ever
worked with, he's the most special," says his Family
wife, JoMarie Payton. "If I fell short, he caught me.
We'd laugh so hard together that I couldn't breathe."
Adds director John Tracy: "He's a sweetheart of a
guy--a real and happy person." That likability
helped VelJohnson land his current spot in MCI's 10-10-321
advertising campaign, but last year a New York City
theater production of A Christmas Carol--in which he
played the Ghost of Christmas Present--allowed him to
explore his edgier side. VelJohnson admits there are
probably some types of behavior he won't ever be able to
pull off. "I can't flip the bird at another driver,"
he claims. "The person would think it was Carl--and
that would be too weird!"

Darius McCrary made his film
debut at the age of 10 in "Big Shots," with
Paul Winfield. He also portrayed a youth victimized by
racial harassment in the film "Mississippi Burning."
His television credits include guest roles on "Amen
and Hooperman." McCrary enjoys swimming, karate,
football, soccer and basketball. He is seeking a singing
and songwriting career and has built a recording studio
at home. McCrary was born in Los Angeles on May 1.

Darius McCrary

EDDIE WINSLOW "I'm
extremely happy with the way my career is going,"
says Darius McCrary, 24. It would be hard to argue with
him: He has landed a lead role as a mercenary on a fall
UPN series called Freedom. He's filming the big-screen
family drama Kingdom Come opposite Whoopi Goldberg. And
in October he'll appear in the
thriller Fifteen Minutes, starring Robert DeNiro. "People
forget that before Darius was on Family Matters, he gave
an incredible performance in the movie Mississippi
Burning," notes series executive William Bickley.
"He's a dynamic actor." The single, L.A.-based
McCrary, who also is an amateur boxer, definitely has a
lighter side as well. On the Family Matters set, he
"liked playing pranks like rigging the dressing
rooms so people couldn't get out," says director
John Tracy. Once, McCrary joined forces with costar
Jaleel White and "wrapped my car in toilet paper,"
recalls Reginald VelJohnson, who played the actor's
father. McCrary's victims could never stay mad for long
though. "Darius threatened to turn my hair gray a
few times," castmate Telma Hopkins says jokingly.
"But what a great kid--and, consequently, a great
grown-up."

JoMarie Payton Noble
has enjoyed performing since elementary school. While at
Carol City High School in Miami, she won her first
starring role as Mama in the high-school production of
"A Raisin in the Sun." Noble studied drama at
the University of Miami and later continued at Miami-Dade
Community College. During this time she appeared at the
Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, the Coconut Grove and the
Theater of Afro Arts. This led to the role of Idella,
opposite Robert Guillaume, in "Purlie."

From there she launched
a successful film and television career with roles on
"The Redd Foxx Variety Show," "The New Odd
Couple," "Teachers Only," "Small
Wonder," "227," "The 'Slap' Maxwell
Story" and "Frank's Place." She was also a
regular on "Silver Spoons." Her feature film
credits include "Body and Soul," "Crossroads,"
"Disorderlies" and "Troop Beverly Hills."
The National Commission on Working Women honored Noble
with the 1990 Alice Award for her portrayal on "Family
Matters."

Noble lives in the Los
Angeles area with her husband, Rodney, and a 12-year-old
daughter, Chantale. She was born in Albany, Ga, on Aug. 3.

JoMarie Payton

HARRIETTE WINSLOW Her role
as a feisty elevator operator on the sitcom Perfect
Strangers was supposed to be a small one. But JoMarie
Payton, 49, rode it all the way to the top: In 1989
producers spun off her character, Harriette Winslow, into
Family Matters. "When I learned I got the show, I
cried," the actress says. "But some
people on Perfect Strangers weren't very nice to me when
they found out." And so when Payton was upstaged on
the Matters set--by nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel, played by
Jaleel White--she was philosophical. "When you're
headed to the moon, you don't give a damn who the captain
of the ship is," she says. After eight years,
however, Payton "felt there should be more stories
about the mom and dad and their relationship with the
children," observes director John Tracy. "And
the studio had a different point of view." In 1997
she left the series, and producers filled her role with
another actress, Judyann Elder. "Nobody wanted to do
a dying mother show or a divorce show," series co-creator
William Bickley explains. Payton--who lives in L.A. with
her third husband, Landrus Clark, 49, and her daughter
from her first marriage, Chantale, 16--has rebounded with
recurring roles on Seventh Heaven and Will & Grace
and has recorded a jazz CD. Family Matters "had been
stagnating my creativity," she says. "The
Monday after I left, I felt happier and lighter than I'd
felt in years." read more about her

Kellie Shanygne Williams
launched her career at age 6 in a play called "Cousins."
Since then, she's amassed an impressive list of theater
credits, including "Joe Turner's Come and Gone,"
Butterfinger's Angel," "Colored Museum,"
"Goin' Home" and "The Bacchae,"
Williams' television credits include "Celebration in
Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," "Luther's
Choice" and "Moesha." She made her feature
film debut in "Suspect," which starred Cher and
Dennis Quaid. She also appeared in "Men Don't Leave"
with Jessica Lange. Williams enjoys singing, dancing and
roller skating. She was born in Washington, D.C., on
March 22.

Kellie Williams

LAURA WINSLOW At the same
time her sitcom character was being placed on a pedestal
by the love-struck Steve Urkel, Kellie Williams was
struggling "through a period of dieting and going to
dermatologists," the actress recalls. Fortunately she could turn to her castmates
for consolation. "I remember her at age 13, with a
little potbelly and pimples, asking me, 'Do you think I'm
going to be pretty?'" recalls Telma Hopkins. "I'd
say, 'You're going to be gorgeous'--and she is!" Now
a psychology major at UCLA ("I thought it would help
me understand my characters better," she says),
Williams, 24, may no longer worry much about her looks.
But auditions are another story. "You get lazy being
on a sitcom for so long. It's hard to get into the hustle
mode," says Williams, who starred last year in the
movie After All, which aired on BET. "But that's
what Hollywood's about--making it happen." Her ex-colleagues
don't have any doubt that she will. "Of the entire
cast," says John Tracy, one of the show's directors,
"she's the one who made me want to say, 'Does
anybody realize how talented this actress is?'" read more about her

When Rosetta LeNoire was 15, she
was a "Time Stepper" performing with her
godfather, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. In 1939
she made her Broadway debut with him in "The Hot
Mikado." She hasn't slowed down since then.

LeNoire made her first
television appearance in the 40s as part of a Revlon
experiment in TV technology. She has since been seen as
Mama in "Gimme a Break" and a regular on "Search
for Tomorrow," "The Guiding Light," "Amen"
and "A World Apart." She has also made guest
appearances on "Benny's Place," "Big
Blonde" and "You Can't Take It With You."

Since her Broadway
debut more than half a century ago, she was seen in
"A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Sunshine
Boys," "Lost in the Stars," "Destry
Rides Again," "I Had a Ball," "Sophie"
and "Cabin in the Sky." She was Stella in the
Broadway production of "Anna Lucasta," later
starring in the film with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Eartha
Kitt. Her film credits include "Moscow on the
Hudson," "The Sunshine Boys," "Daniel"
and "Brewster's Millions."

Since 1968 Miss Lenoire
has been artistic director of her own musical theater,
the AMAS Repertory Theater, Inc., a non-profit, multi-racial
performing arts organization. In fact, she recently
received the Richard L. Coe Award for extending the
boundaries of theater. In February 1989, the Actors
Equity Association established the Rosetta LeNoire Award.

Michelle Thomas' first love was music, so
it's only natural that she would develop performing
skills at a young age.

She studied jazz,
modern and hip-hop dance at the Broadway Dance Center in
New York, and while attending an all-girls private school
in New Jersey, she was crowned Miss Talented Teen New
Jersey in Hal Jackson's Talented Teen Competition. She
went on to compete in the international pageant in
Jamaica and was crowned International Queen in 1985.

Her other television
credits include "The Cosby Show," "Roseanne,"
a pilot called "Conan the Librarian" and "Dream
Date," a made-for-television movie. She also
appeared in an episode of the ABC series, "A Man
Called Hawk."

She was born
in Boston, Mass., on September 23, 1968. Unfortunately,
the young and talented actress died of a rare form of
stomach cancer on December 23, 1998. read more about her

A persistent preschool teacher
first saw Jaleel White's spark. So when White was 3-years-old,
his parents took him to a casting call and was soon
landing roles in TV commercials.

The young actor
appeared as a regular in "Charlie &Company,"
and in the television movies "Kids Don't Tell"
"Leftovers," and "Silence of the Heart,"
with Mariette Hartley and Charlie Sheen.

White appeared with Bea
Arthur in a dance number on "The 5th Annual American
Comedy Awards" and made a guest appearance as Steve
Urkel in an episode of "Full House." He also
starred in "The Jaleel White Special."

He is an avid
basketball player who also enjoys watching old movies and
TV shows. His idol and mentor is entertainer Bill Cosby.

He was born in Los
Angeles on Nov. 27.

STEVE URKEL By giving
Steve Urkel high-hitched pants and a high-pitched voice,
Jaleel White turned what
was intended to be a onetime guest role into a nine-year
run--not to mention a doll, a brand of cereal and two
alter egos (the seductive Stefan Urquelle and southern
belle Myrtle Urkel). "He took a character who was
kind of funny on paper," says series co-creator
William Bickley, "and brought him to life." He
also brought some tension to the set. "When he
became the star, there were a lot of hurt feelings,"
says castmate Reginald VelJohnson. About a year shy of
finishing his degree at UCLA (he's majoring in film and
television), the 23-year-old actor--who lives near campus--stars
on a new series, Grown Ups, playing a young, hip professional.
"Jaleel loved doing Urkel," says John Tracy,
who has directed White on both shows. "But he's
happy that he's now showing he can do more." read more about him

Bryton McClure has been
in the entertainment business for most of his life. He
joined the cast of "Family Matters" before his
fourth birthday.

McClure has appeared in several
television commercials and print ads, but he is
especially proud of the 1994 "Dangerous"
compilation video he did with Michael Jackson. He is
actively involved in Jackson's "Heal the World"
Foundation and other charity groups, including DARE,
RAADD (Recording Artists Against Drunk Driving), New
Directions for Youth and his own non-profit organization,
My Generation.

Bryton enjoys baseball,
singing, dancing, video games and popcorn.

He was born in
Lakewood, Calif., on August 17, 1986.

Bryton McClure

RICHIE CRAWFORD Because he
joined the cast when he was only 3 years old, "most
of the things kids learned at home I learned on the set,"
says Bryton McClure. "It was my tutor who taught me how to ride a bike, how to
play baseball." Now 13 and living with his parents
in Orange County, Calif., the only child has traded in
Little League for competitive go-kart racing. He has also
traded in acting for a career as a singer. "We
didn't want to subject him to auditions again, knowing
the odds of getting on another show are so slim,"
says his homemaker mother, Bette McClure. This past
spring the home-schooled eighth grader signed a deal with
the Polydor/Universal music label. That news shouldn't
come as a surprise to anyone who ever caught McClure
imitating Michael Jackson. "Bryton was a great
singer and dancer," recalls director John Tracy.
"He'd come out with a white glove on and his hair
all greased up. Everybody thought it was hysterical."
Bryton's
own website at: www.bryton.net

JUDY WINSLOW Talk about a
disappearing act. At the end of the show's fourth season,
the youngest of the three Winslow children walked
upstairs to her room...and was never seen again! "Everyone
asks, 'What happened to you?'" says Jaimee Foxworth,
now 20. "I tell them, 'I'm still up there in my
closet, putting on my clothes.'" The show's creators
don't have a much better explanation. "The official
name is denial, hoping the audience won't notice,"
admits William Bickley, who says dropping the character
was "a budget consideration." As Foxworth's
costars coped with the departure--"Jaimee was my
best friend on the set," says her TV sister Kellie Williams--her
mother struggled to break the news to the then 13-year-old.
"Toward the end of that summer I kept asking my mom,
'Aren't we going back to work?'" Foxworth recalls.
"She didn't know how to tell me. Finally she just
said we weren't." Devastated by the news, Foxworth
struggled to adjust to her abruptly new life. "I was
back in school, and I didn't have any friends," she
says. Dating, too, proved difficult. "I had
boyfriends who would be like, 'She has money, she can pay
our way.'" In 1996, Foxworth, who shares a home in
Burbank with her mom, two sisters and toddler niece,
formed a pop band called S.H.E. with her siblings, and
the trio continues to perform locally. After several
years of acting classes, the Burbank High School graduate
is also back on the audition circuit. "Next time,"
she says, "I want to make serious films."

RACHEL CRAWFORD When Telma
Hopkins's grandmother died last year, virtually every one
of her former sitcom costars reached out to her. "They
really are like family to me," she says. Which made
her decision to leave the series after four years a
difficult one, even though she was doing so to take a
leading role in a new sitcom called Getting By. "The
sets were close to each other, so I'd go back and forth
all the time,"recalls the actress, 51, who continued making
guest appearances on Family Matters. Her ex-castmates
were happy to have her hanging around. "Telma and I
connected the first time we met," says JoMarie
Payton, who asked Hopkins to be a bridesmaid in her 1998
wedding. Adds TV niece Kellie Williams: "She helped
raise me. To this day I can still call her, crying."
Unfortunately, Hopkins--who sang backup in the 1970s for
Tony Orlando as one-half of Dawn--saw her new series
survive less than two seasons. But the divorced mother of
a 31-year-old son managed to walk away from the
experience with something more lasting: a fiance, actor
Rif Hutton, 47, whom she met on the set. read more about her

Shawn Harrison, born December 28,
began his acting career at age four, when on his first
audition, he landed a role in the feature film "The
Jerk." His extensive television credits include a
recurring role on the series "Day by Day," and
guest-starring roles on such series as "The Royal
Family," "L.A. Law," "China Beach,"
"Glory Days," "Punky Brewster,"
"Hill Street Blues," "Fame," "Laverne
& Shirley" and "Star Search Jr."
Harrison has also starred in several regional stage
productions including "American Tap," "Tribute
to Michael Jackson," and "Calling All Kids."
read more about him

Cherie Johnson was
born in 1976. She played Laura's best friend Maxine from
1990 to the shows end in 1998. She was never named a
member of the regular cast, though she was a recurring
guest star.

The texts in italics are
token from ABC, CBS, WGN, Warner Bros. websites. The
texts in regular style are from the article "Where
Are They Now?: Family Matters 1989-1998" published
by the magazine "People" in June 2000.